Hippodrome Theatre

I am writing the first book from the American point of view about 19th century rotunda panoramas. These were the biggest paintings in the world,50- x 400=20,000 square feet, housed in their own rotundas which were 16-sided polygons. Chicago in 1893 had 6 panorama companies and 6 panorama rotundas. The Hippodrome replaced William Wehner’s panorama studio on this site which between 1885-1888 produced 2 units of BATTLE OF ATLANTA, 2 units of BATTLE OF MISSIONARY RIDGE & LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN, and 3 units of JERUSALEM ON THE DAY OF THE CRUCIFIXION. On September 18,2003 I found in the display case of Milwaukee County Historical Museum the F.W.Heine diaries 1879-1921. These highly illustrated diaries are the only narrative of a panorama company, that of William Wehner (1847-1928). The Heine diaries are as important to the history of rotunda panorama as the letters of Theo and Vincent Van Gogh are important to the history of Post Impressionism. The diaries needed to be transcribed in German, translated to English, scanned to computer. Michael Kutzer,born 1942 in Leipzig like Heine, is transcribing the Heine diaries. See Michael’s lecture on YOUTUBE about the Heine diaries last year at Cedarburg Art Museum. Info to share.